Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission

The state Natural Resources Board has authorized the DNR to take emergency steps to protect Wisconsin’s fish supply. The move comes after Wisconsin’s Chippewa tribes declared they’ll reserve a record number of walleye in the spearing season.

Wisconsin’s six Chippewa tribes plan to spear up to 63,000 walleye this spring - five thousand more than last year. As Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission spokesperson Sue Erickson explains, typically tribal members only take about half of what is declared.

A group of middle school students gathered last month in Lac du Flambeau to learn outdoor winter skills. Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission organized the weekend camp. As WXPR’s Natalie Jablonski reports, it’s as much about cultural preservation as it is getting outdoors.

At Deep Snow Camp, most of the activities are focused on survival skills like building a snow shelter or ice fishing with simple materials. But a lot of the sessions focus on another type of survival: the cultural kind.

One mining specialist is questioning whether a proposed iron mine in the Penokee range has enough social support to go forward.

John Coleman is an environmental section leader at Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, a group that helps enforce tribal treaty rights in Wisconsin. Coleman has worked primarily on mining issues since 1994, when a mine proposed near Crandon faced tribal opposition.

Coleman thinks state regulators aren’t as tough as they were in the nineties.